The State Department of Education is investigating allegations that South County’s largest school district is offering substandard diplomas to special education students.

In a letter to Sweetwater Union High School District Superintendent Jesus Gandara last week, a state special education consultant wrote that the agency’s staff received a complaint and decided to open an investigation.

The complaint, filed by retired special education teachers Frances Brinkman and John Brickley, alleges parents were never informed that diplomas offered by newly created Bounce Back Independent Study High School are considered of a lower tier by the military because it is not a traditional high school.

Gandara said all diplomas offered at Sweetwater are the same no matter which high school a student attends.

“These are retired, disgruntled employees who are trying to affect the outcome of the election,” Gandara said. “Brinkley knows how to manipulate the system by using buzz words in special education. She knows how to use words that would obligate the state to look into the complaint.”

Bounce Back was created to coordinate among alternative education learning centers at 12 high school campuses. The district says it improves accountability by giving those students one principal, but critics say it deprives the students of the benefits of a mainstream campus.

The complaint alleges, for example, that the students don’t have access to the complete sequence of college prep courses necessary to get into college. That coursework includes foreign language, lab sciences and finite math, according to the complaint. It also alleges the independent study school is not accredited and lacks a school site council or a school site plan.

“Parents were never informed that diplomas by Independent Study High School are considered Tier 2 by the military because (it) is an independent study high school,” the complaint says. “All students were placed in a substandard learning environment without parent notification.”

Master Sgt. Shawn Hudachko, operations chief for the San Diego area for the Marines, said independent study diplomas are rarely accepted by recruiters. The corps strives to have 97 percent of its recruits from comprehensive high schools.

Elishia Castillo said her 17-year-old son who is in independent study and her nephew who attended a continuation high school were both told their diplomas may not make the cut for the military.

“I feel like if a kid can’t succeed in regular high school this is a good alternative,” Castillo said. “But if they don’t get the same diploma, what’s the use of offering it?”